玉（yu）
Name meaning
玉 (Yu) means jade, purity and precious virtue. It is extremely familiar in Chinese names.
Practical naming use
玉 (yu) is a jade-and-purity character. It gives a name refinement, moral value and luminous simplicity, so the result feels precious rather than flashy. It is especially useful for moral character, refined elegance, feminine names, because the character can carry a recognizable Chinese image without becoming empty dictionary filler. The best results come when the second character adds human direction, warmth, restraint or breadth, so the full given name feels lived-in rather than generic.
Pair 玉 (yu) with characters such as 宁 (ning) for composed grace, 文 (wen) for cultivated elegance, 清 (qing) for lucid purity or 安 (an) for settled value. The second character should keep the jade image personal, not ornamental-display only.
玉宁 (Yuning): Yu contributes jade, purity; Ning adds peaceful, settled.
Historical / name-use references
宋玉 (Song Yu)
Warring States poet traditionally associated with Chu literary culture; 玉 (Yu) is his single-character given name.
Use notes
High duplicate risk in older generations.